Comments on: Why Can’t Those Working-Class Kids Value Education Like Our Middle-Class Kids?

By: This. isssss. The Saturday linkspam!!! (wild applause, game show music) | The Angry Black Woman

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 13:21:03 +0000

[...] Why Can’t Those Working-Class Kids Value Education Like Our Middle-Class Kids? [...]

By: Learning for Learning’s Sake… « Education and Class

Learning for Learning’s Sake… « Education and Class — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 22:33:35 +0000

[...] But I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Middle class kids know how to intellectualize their complaints, how to feign interest, how to just stay quiet when it’s in their strategic interest to do so. Working class kids may well wonder often and loudly why the hell they’re borrowing hundreds of dollars for a course on the history of pop music. [...]

By: Jeanne

Jeanne — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 22:48:48 +0000

This post made me cry. I know, you’re an academic, and you’re not trying to make people cry. But I’ve been having a woman posting on my blog and she has said similar things. In one comment she wrote:

“On the other hand, I am alienated from my working class community college students who see no need to learn about racial and gender equality because they do not feel it will help them get “real jobs.” How sad it is when people lust after things and ignore the spirit…”

Later in the post, she claims that the working class disdain arts & humanities.

This is such a common misconception among the middle class. I’m so glad that YOU see it and are calling people’s attention to it.

Jeanne

By: Kat

Kat — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 15:47:35 +0000

Quite simply – class. If you take your examination beyond the class of students to that of the faculty, you will have answered your own question.

By: janevangalen

janevangalen — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 20:34:12 +0000

Ray, thanks for the comment.

(Coincidently, I was posting on comment on your blog just as I saw your comment come through…)

So, why are otherwise savvy and informed faculty not always attuned to the dynamics of class in their classrooms?

Jane

By: Ray Watkins

Ray Watkins — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 20:25:15 +0000

Middle class kids also often come to college very well schooled in school. Professors will then claim that they are more “college material” than the working class, first generation kids…